An improved way of learning has come to take place the old and boring traditional learning. IPods are not just for music and games anymore. Educational applications have been making students go haywire. I always wondered when a new type of learning was going to come in par. I was always bored with the old type of learning and traditional classes. Spicing it up with iPod learning applications is a great idea. The students at Somerset Elementary School in Minnesota have become very interested in Apple touch-screen media and handheld computers. IPods are starting to get more popular in U.S. schools for learning. For kids tapping, scrolling and swiping are more fun on a device rather than activities for math and spelling that are “boring”. Students show to be more engaged in learning suddenly when it is not paper and pencil. At the school the teacher passes around a laptop to have students download educational apps. The teacher one or more times during the week passes out the charged iPods and the students are excited because to them it is like playtime. Some people argue and are not convinced that students will not have a lasting educational value. Alex Silverman, a man who has thought high school students, is now an app developer has created a new app called eClicker. It allows the teachers and students to communicate with each other through the classrooms Wi-Fi network. This may also create a more interaction through class participation. The app only cost $25 for the teacher and its free for the students. "His students have a variety of learning disabilities that often cannot be overcome with regular teaching methods. But something as simple as a flash-card slide show on touch-screen iPods, with finger swipes for moving from one digital photo to the next, tends to electrify the kids." Suddenly a class of boring students turns into an interested and eager class to learn.
I am glad a new way of learning has finally come. I am already getting some of this new learning in my school now. A program called ISP. I hope we can integrate iPods in our class to.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Hacking!!!
Hacking, sounds fun! Not when it’s illegal and you can get arrested for it. That’s what happened to three Spaniards that were suspected of infecting 13 million computers that contained a suspicious program. The program allowed them to steal information. It would have been able to steal personal and financial data worldwide. This was reported by Spain’s Civil Guard on Wednesday. Teaming up the Civil Guards worked with the FBI and computer security firms in Canada, The United States and Spain to inspect. A Spanish official even called it the world’s biggest network of virus-infected computers. The Civil Guards’ statement read that the suspects "copied personal and financial data of individuals, companies and official institutions in more than 190 countries." Additionally, the virus would have those who were controlling the system to mount a large cyber attack from the infected computers. Let me remind you that the virus already is able to gain access to personal and financial information. While searching through the computers the police found computer and personal information from more than 80,000 users. The suspects are the ages of 31, 30, and 25. They were arrested last week. They were arrested in Spain’s northern Vizcaya province, northwest Coruna province and southeast Murcia province, respectively. There were no identities released by authorities or any other details about them. May was when the computer hacking was first detected by the Canadian firm Defence Intelligence, the statement says that they quickly enlisted the aid of Spain’s Panda Security firm and the Georgia Tech Information Security Center located in Atlanta, Georgia. Sooner or later the FBI determined that there was a Spanish Citizen involved. They alerted the Civil Guards. The suspects had brought virus software to use in their alleged scheme, authorities concluded. Investigators had identified basically all of the control channels for the pirated computer network, by December. They also “proceeded in a coordinated way internationally to block the domains that were being used," the statement said. Two U.S. and one Spanish service providers were mainly used. An act of revenge took place, when a cyberattack against the Canadian firm investigating them. This attack that was preformed, seriously affected its internet service provider and left numerous of clients without connection, this also included Canadian universities and government offices. The counterattack helped in a way. This allowed the investigators to figure out the remaining of the control channels for the alleged scheme, and this was able to be blocked also finally. Only thing that was not blocked were a fairly small number of computers. First to be found was the 31 year old suspect, discovered while using the name “hamlet1917.” He was arrested in the town of Balmaseda, Vizcaya. “A search of the computers found there led to the other two suspects, the statement said.” The suspects will appear in front of Judge Baltasar Garzon at the Spain National Court in Madrid, this is because of the board implications of the virus-infected computers. Authorities are still investigating whether or not a fourth suspect might be involved.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Flying Hotel?
I always wonder how and what the future will be. Well it seems London knows where they are going to be. Can you image going on vacation and spending your time in a huge vertical airship that is floating thousands of meters over the ground? Well experts are coming together to design a concept and make it reality. Seymourpowell designers say the “Aircruise” claims to be a great new design that can accommodate their guests inside of a 265-meter tall hotel that can float over top beautiful landscapes or city skylines. Nick Talbot states, "The Aircruise concept questions whether the future of luxury travel should be based around space-constrained, resource hungry, and all too often stressful airline travel." This type of transportation may attract more people because it will be like a vacation where people experience a more serene and more reflective journey. They will not worry about getting from A to B quickly. The Aircruise for now is only a concept, they have developed a plan so that their great ideas will be able to be built in the future. Their design includes the Aircruise will be able to hold a maximum of 100 guests and crew and will only allow 10 luxury apartments available for rent. The Aircruise will contain a dining area, a bar, and a lounge area for everyone on board. This is something good to look for in the future and there isn’t another way you can imagine to experience luxury travel like this. The design will use hydrogen gas to be the primary lifting gas and it will be able to lift around 1.2 kg per cubic of volume. Also large hydrogen fuel cells can provide on board power and some drinking water. The speed of the Aircruise would be around 100 to 150 kilometers an hour, so if you wonder how long it would take you to get from London to New York, it will be somewhere around 37 hours. I hope that this type of technology will be around when I am alive because I would love to stay in a floating hotel.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Algae into Crude Oil
The manufacturer of this project is Sapphire Energy and they claim they have developed diesel, jet fuel and premium-grade gasoline
The cost and process of manufacturing algae to crude oil is the same amount of work as extracting petroleum from oil sands or deep-water reserves.
The reason why this was invented was because it was a good way to get fuel and also since the process of making crude oil from algae requires non-portable water and carbon dioxide then this will hypothetically balance out the produced carbon dioxide from when its burned. This will help the environment a whole lot.
This is also good to use because it pollutes less than the regular gasoline, this reason because it does not contain either nitrogen or sulfur.
This has not been applied yet but will hopefully be successful and commercially used in three years.
The cost and process of manufacturing algae to crude oil is the same amount of work as extracting petroleum from oil sands or deep-water reserves.
The reason why this was invented was because it was a good way to get fuel and also since the process of making crude oil from algae requires non-portable water and carbon dioxide then this will hypothetically balance out the produced carbon dioxide from when its burned. This will help the environment a whole lot.
This is also good to use because it pollutes less than the regular gasoline, this reason because it does not contain either nitrogen or sulfur.
This has not been applied yet but will hopefully be successful and commercially used in three years.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
LIQUIDMETAL Technologies
If you want to redefine performance and cost paradigms then you may want to consider Liquidmetal alloys. Made possible by revolutionary scientific and technological innovations the superior properties. Since the creation of thermoplastics, Liquidmetal alloys represent the first enabling materials technology. It possess characteristics that make them better in numerous ways to other commercially-viable materials.
The Liquidmetal technology offers many benefits including an “amorphous” atomic structure, that is extraordinary for structural metals. Additionally, they contain a multi-component chemical composition. This means it can be made for different properties and processes. Also, they lend themselves to process technology that is sort of like that possessed by plastic.
This technology allows you to optimize the material to follow specific applications by tailoring the combination of process, chemistry and atomic structure. The atomic structure is very different and impressive compared to other metal alloys
The Liquidmetal technology offers many benefits including an “amorphous” atomic structure, that is extraordinary for structural metals. Additionally, they contain a multi-component chemical composition. This means it can be made for different properties and processes. Also, they lend themselves to process technology that is sort of like that possessed by plastic.
This technology allows you to optimize the material to follow specific applications by tailoring the combination of process, chemistry and atomic structure. The atomic structure is very different and impressive compared to other metal alloys
Trabecular Metal Revision Shell
Trabecular metal has a cellular structure that resembles a bone. It also has the ability to approximate its mechanical and physical properties more closely that other materials that are used for prosthetic. The Trabecular configuration, which is unique and very porous, is beneficial to bone formation . It enables rapid and extensive tissue infiltration and strong attachment. This new type of metal consists of interconnecting pores. This means the structural biomaterial is 80% porous. This leads to 2-3 times better bone in growth which is compared to “conventional porous coatings and double the interface shear strength.”
These Trabecular metals are implants that are made using elemental tantalum metal and created with techniques using vapor deposition. Strength and corrosion resistance with great biocompatibility are why elemental tantalum is a great new technology. Trabecular metal is very strong and has a great strength-to-weight ratio. What is very impressive about this metal is that when it is inside the body it has a bone-like physical and mechanical properties. It was proven that after the surgery, 8 weeks later the bone grew and filled in most of the available pore space.
These Trabecular metals are implants that are made using elemental tantalum metal and created with techniques using vapor deposition. Strength and corrosion resistance with great biocompatibility are why elemental tantalum is a great new technology. Trabecular metal is very strong and has a great strength-to-weight ratio. What is very impressive about this metal is that when it is inside the body it has a bone-like physical and mechanical properties. It was proven that after the surgery, 8 weeks later the bone grew and filled in most of the available pore space.
Plastic Solar Cells
We always hear about solar panels to provide energy for houses and plants that sit on top of rooftops and so on. But wouldn’t it be great to have portable solar cells on the back of your cell phone or on any electronic device. These silicon-based solar cells are low-cost and flexible. If they are able to create solar devices for other things then there shouldn’t be a problem.
A professor and student at the University of Chicago have been together studying and developing a new semiconducting material that is called PTB1. This material coverts sunlight into electricity just like solar panels do. They sold their patent rights to Solarmer Energy Inc. The prototype will soon be completed. It will be eight square inches (50 square centimeters) and will have a lifetime of three years. They claim that the device will have the efficiency of eight percent. While everyone else is in the industry is in 5 percent to 6 percent range.
The material is even higher efficiency because they have semiconducting material that works great. The silicon-based solar cells have an active layer of PTB1 is about 100 nanometers in thickness. And the width is about 1,000 atoms. To create a produce a small amount of the PTB1 material, it takes a lot of time and it is a multi-step process.
A professor and student at the University of Chicago have been together studying and developing a new semiconducting material that is called PTB1. This material coverts sunlight into electricity just like solar panels do. They sold their patent rights to Solarmer Energy Inc. The prototype will soon be completed. It will be eight square inches (50 square centimeters) and will have a lifetime of three years. They claim that the device will have the efficiency of eight percent. While everyone else is in the industry is in 5 percent to 6 percent range.
The material is even higher efficiency because they have semiconducting material that works great. The silicon-based solar cells have an active layer of PTB1 is about 100 nanometers in thickness. And the width is about 1,000 atoms. To create a produce a small amount of the PTB1 material, it takes a lot of time and it is a multi-step process.
Dirt-Powered Bacteria Batteries
Bacteria are one of the most studied organisms today, so why not put them to good use? Well they figured out how, bacteria has been used for genetics research, antibiotics, and now biofuels. But technology has come a long way and now they were able to get a battery run on bacteria. This is known as microbial fuel cells or MCFs.
These Batteries are powered by the chemical energy generated by the bacteria, and then it is converted into electrical energy. It is done by using a relatively simple mechanism. Most batteries, including bacteria powered batteries, contain an anode (which is the negative end) and a cathode (which is the positive end). The bacteria battery also contains a membrane capable of filtering electrons and protons. These electrons and protons are produced during the chemical breakdown of substances by bacteria.
First the bacteria breakdown process starts by producing ions, and then from there the anions are transferred from the cathode compartment from an external circuit and then the protons get sent to the cathode from the anode. To sum it all up, the chemical energy that the bacteria produces is changed into electrical energy.
Scientists from Harvard have been working with these types of batteries and developed a battery that uses bacteria found inside African Soil. What they have found to be amazing is that the layer of sand is used as the ionic membrane, the mud that contains manure as the bacterial substrate, and the graphite cloth as the anode. They have developed a great battery because it uses substances that are always available throughout Africa and is expected to provide electricity in some parts of Africa.
These Batteries are powered by the chemical energy generated by the bacteria, and then it is converted into electrical energy. It is done by using a relatively simple mechanism. Most batteries, including bacteria powered batteries, contain an anode (which is the negative end) and a cathode (which is the positive end). The bacteria battery also contains a membrane capable of filtering electrons and protons. These electrons and protons are produced during the chemical breakdown of substances by bacteria.
First the bacteria breakdown process starts by producing ions, and then from there the anions are transferred from the cathode compartment from an external circuit and then the protons get sent to the cathode from the anode. To sum it all up, the chemical energy that the bacteria produces is changed into electrical energy.
Scientists from Harvard have been working with these types of batteries and developed a battery that uses bacteria found inside African Soil. What they have found to be amazing is that the layer of sand is used as the ionic membrane, the mud that contains manure as the bacterial substrate, and the graphite cloth as the anode. They have developed a great battery because it uses substances that are always available throughout Africa and is expected to provide electricity in some parts of Africa.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Education Advancements
An improved way of learning has come to take place the old and boring traditional learning. IPods are not just for music and games anymore. Educational applications have been making students go haywire. I always wondered when a new type of learning was going to come in par. I was always bored with the old type of learning and traditional classes. Spicing it up with iPod learning applications is a great idea. The students at Somerset Elementary School in Minnesota have become very interested in Apple touch-screen media and handheld computers. IPods are starting to get more popular in U.S. schools for learning. For kids tapping, scrolling and swiping are more fun on a device rather than activities for math and spelling that are “boring”. Students show to be more engaged in learning suddenly when it is not paper and pencil. At the school the teacher passes around a laptop to have students download educational apps. The teacher one or more times during the week passes out the charged iPods and the students are excited because to them it is like playtime. Some people argue and are not convinced that students will not have a lasting educational value. Alex Silverman, a man who has thought high school students, is now an app developer has created a new app called eClicker. It allows the teachers and students to communicate with each other through the classrooms Wi-Fi network. This may also create a more interaction through class participation. The app only cost $25 for the teacher and its free for the students. "His students have a variety of learning disabilities that often cannot be overcome with regular teaching methods. But something as simple as a flash-card slide show on touch-screen iPods, with finger swipes for moving from one digital photo to the next, tends to electrify the kids." Suddenly a class of boring students turns into an interested and eager class to learn.
I am glad a new way of learning has finally come. I am already getting some of this new learning in my school now. A program called ISP. I hope we can integrate iPods in our class to.
I am glad a new way of learning has finally come. I am already getting some of this new learning in my school now. A program called ISP. I hope we can integrate iPods in our class to.
Friday, June 11, 2010
No Cash, That’s Ok!
Now carrying cash is just like another heavy, bulky thing that you have to lug around. Well not anymore. A lot of people don’t bring cash because of this reason. These days’ people only carry plastic on them because it is an easy form of payment and is smaller than a big roll of green paper taking up room in your pocket. People with small business may lose customers this way. Not anymore! If you have an iPhone then you no longer have to decline a person with a credit card every again. The “Square” new mobile payment solution is just what you are looking for. Square was developed from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. The Square is a very small plastic cube. It is about the size of two Chiclets. On the bottom it has an audio connector that plugs into the headphone port. There is a small slot in the cube that lets you pass the credit card through. After sliding, the reader on the Square converts that data from the magnetic strip into an audio signal (cool huh!) and passes it on to software on the phone. The square is still in early beta mode, but Wired was able to get it and put it to the test! Even though the pricing, software and sign up process are not final, they look at it as a great option to let anyone with something to sell be able to accept those impossible credit card payments. It is able to accept the general credit card like Visa, American Express and MasterCard. There also trying to have it work for Discover and also Diner’s Club. So far the hardware and required account are free. But the sale systems will charge merchants variable fees based on the card used. And the square will charge a flat rate for all cards. The software for this advanced peace of technology is well-designed. It is required to have an internet connection to run it, but it will work using Wi-Fi. When the credit card number is entered, the transaction is authorized, and a new screen lets the purchaser sign their name using the touchscreen. There is also an option for a transaction receipt to be emailed and emailed to the vendor as well. For the vendor it is a quick an easy process. It takes less than a minute. Money will show up in the vendor’s bank account one to two days after the transaction. There are so many options, you can refund transactions, create accounts tied to peoples credit card, and upload a head shot. A merchant can swipe a card that’s associated with a Square payers account; the head shot will appear and ask for verification that it’s the person making the transaction. So far the square has an app for the iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad. They are working on an Android version of its software is currently being worked on. But in the future they hope to have it work for any device that contains a audio port, like laptops.
Disk Cloning
What is Disk Cloning?
Many people wonder, what is disk cloning. It is not a very hard concept to understand but people may get it confused with “regular” cloning with humans and animals. It is two totally different things. Disk cloning is the process of copying the contents of one computers hard disk to another disk or to an “image” file. Usually the first part of the disk is copied as an image file and then the second disk is loaded with the contents of the image. This is also a useful procedure when you move a larger capacity disk or to restore to a virgin installation.
Why use Dick Cloning?
There are many reasons for using disk cloning. They include:
• Reboot and restore – this is a technique used in which the disk of the computer is automatically wiped and restored from a “clean”, master image, which should be in full working order and should have been swept for viruses. This is used in cybercafés and also in some training and educational institutes. This is just a safety precaution they use so that the user doesn’t misconfigure something, downloads something inappropriate content or programs, or puts a virus on a computer. If any of this happens it can be restored to a clean and working state. This reboot and restore process can either take place irregularly when a computer shows signs of malfunctioning, on a regular basis or sometimes every time a user logs off. The reboot and restore process is the safest approach and does involve some downtime.
• Provisioning new computers – When you need to download a lot of programs for a new user you can download a complete application suite and not have to waste time installing individual applications. Sometimes this is often used by original equipment manufacturers and larger companies.
• Hard drive upgrade – Sometimes an individual user may want to upgrade to a new or lager hard disk, so disk cloning may be easier than copying everything over and installing previous software.
• Full system backup – Backing up your operating system and installed software are very important because of all of the information people store on their computer and count on it to be there every time they start up their computer.
• System recovery – An OEM can provide media that can restore a computer to its original factory software configuration.
• Transfer to another user – A system that gets moved to another user may be reset by reloading a known, previous-saved image that will not contain and personal files, information, or bought programs.
How Does Disk Cloning Work?
To provision the hard disk of a computer without using disk cloning software, the following steps are generally required for each computer:
1. Create one or more partitions on the disk
2. Format each partition to create a file system on it
3. Install the operating system
4. Install device drivers for the particular hardware
5. Install application software
With disk cloning, this can be simplified to:
1. Install the first computer, as above.
2. Create an image of the hard disk (optional)
3. Clone the first disk, or its image, to the remaining computers
Many people wonder, what is disk cloning. It is not a very hard concept to understand but people may get it confused with “regular” cloning with humans and animals. It is two totally different things. Disk cloning is the process of copying the contents of one computers hard disk to another disk or to an “image” file. Usually the first part of the disk is copied as an image file and then the second disk is loaded with the contents of the image. This is also a useful procedure when you move a larger capacity disk or to restore to a virgin installation.
Why use Dick Cloning?
There are many reasons for using disk cloning. They include:
• Reboot and restore – this is a technique used in which the disk of the computer is automatically wiped and restored from a “clean”, master image, which should be in full working order and should have been swept for viruses. This is used in cybercafés and also in some training and educational institutes. This is just a safety precaution they use so that the user doesn’t misconfigure something, downloads something inappropriate content or programs, or puts a virus on a computer. If any of this happens it can be restored to a clean and working state. This reboot and restore process can either take place irregularly when a computer shows signs of malfunctioning, on a regular basis or sometimes every time a user logs off. The reboot and restore process is the safest approach and does involve some downtime.
• Provisioning new computers – When you need to download a lot of programs for a new user you can download a complete application suite and not have to waste time installing individual applications. Sometimes this is often used by original equipment manufacturers and larger companies.
• Hard drive upgrade – Sometimes an individual user may want to upgrade to a new or lager hard disk, so disk cloning may be easier than copying everything over and installing previous software.
• Full system backup – Backing up your operating system and installed software are very important because of all of the information people store on their computer and count on it to be there every time they start up their computer.
• System recovery – An OEM can provide media that can restore a computer to its original factory software configuration.
• Transfer to another user – A system that gets moved to another user may be reset by reloading a known, previous-saved image that will not contain and personal files, information, or bought programs.
How Does Disk Cloning Work?
To provision the hard disk of a computer without using disk cloning software, the following steps are generally required for each computer:
1. Create one or more partitions on the disk
2. Format each partition to create a file system on it
3. Install the operating system
4. Install device drivers for the particular hardware
5. Install application software
With disk cloning, this can be simplified to:
1. Install the first computer, as above.
2. Create an image of the hard disk (optional)
3. Clone the first disk, or its image, to the remaining computers
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Servers
Proxy Servers
What are they?
Proxy server is a server that is usually used on a private network that will allow access to external network resources. In typical network configurations, the computers on a company network care separated from the internet by a firewall (for security reasons). The computers on the network are not able to access the internet directly to browse for web pages, so therefore the browser must be configured to use a proxy server. The proxy server is allowed to access the internet to service requests for web pages from the internet. All common browsers can support this configuration, usually titled, “Use a Proxy Server”.
How they do they Work?
Proxies are store-and-forward caches. You can configure your web browser to use a proxy; this will make it so that it never connects to the URL. It is cool because instead it will always connect to the proxy server, and asks to get the URL for you. Proxies can and sometimes used for some sort of firewall, because it isolates you from connecting to the Internet.
A Proxy server receives a request for an Internet Service from a user. Then if it passes filtering requirements, the proxy server, assuming it is also a cache server, looks in its local cache of previously downloaded Web pages. If it finds the page, it returns it to the user without needing to forward the request to the Internet. But if the page is not in the cache, then the proxy server, acting as a client on behalf of the user, uses one of its own IP addresses to request the page from the server out on the Internet. When the page is returned, it then relates it to the original request and forwards in on to the user. The proxy is invisible to the user; any of the Internet requests and returned responses appears to be directly with the addresses Internet server.
What are their advantages?
A proxy server’s cache can serve all users. Also to improve user response time, if one or more internet sites are frequently requested then they are likely to be in the proxy’s cache. There are also different types of proxy servers with different features, some are anonymous proxies so that it can hide your real IP address and some are used to filter sites, for example sites that have things that may be unsuitable for people to view. With a proxy server you are not completely anonymous because when you connect to a web site, your true IP address will not be shown, but the proxy servers IP will and therefore the proxy server will have logs of IP’s that used the proxy server and the times.
What are some possible uses?
Some possible uses can be if you have a child and you want to restrict sites that they are viewing, you can do that with the right type of proxy because not all of them filter sites. It is also used for protection, so if a hacker hacks you, your IP address will be hidden and they can’t get info about you when using it. They will only be able to get the servers IP. Also they are not hard to set up, there is no hardware or software needed, all you have to do is configure your browser to connect through it. ______________________________________________________________________________
File Server
What are they?
A file server is a computer attached to a network that has the primary purpose of providing a location for a shared disk access. The file server is a shared storage of computer files. It contains documents, sound files, photographs, movies, images, databases and more. These certain files can be accessed be the workstations that are attached to the computer network. The file server does not usually perform any calculations, and does not run any programs on behalf of the clients. It is basically designed to enable the rapid storage and retrieval of data where the heavy computation is provided by the workstations.
How they do they Work?
File servers can either be dedicated or non-dedicated. Dedicated servers are basically designed specifically used for a file server, with workstations attached for reading and writing files and databases. File servers can also be categorizes by the method of access. For example Internet file servers are frequently accessed by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or by HTTP.
What are their advantages?
File servers are good to use because they will save space on each individual client computer. They help with storage space, access speed, recoverability, ease of administration, security, and budget. File servers basically offer some form of system security to limit access to files to specific users or groups.
What are some possible uses?
File servers are sometimes used in offices, schools, businesses, and sometimes even houses.
______________________________________________________________________________
Print Server
What are they?
A print server is basically a device that allows computer workstations to interact with one or more printers that are shared on the network. They are mainly used in offices but can also be used for personal use. In an office, a printer service would be used to connect all the office computers to one printer. The print server can either be in the form of a small server that acts with the main office servers to allow printing capability. In many situations, one of the computers in the network group is designated as the print server. The software needed to allow for this function is loaded onto the hard drive of the computer that will be used as the print server.
Once the hardware is loaded and installed, the software can be configured to recognize all the printers in the office, as well as all the workstations that are allowed access to server functions. Once the credentials are established on the print server, each work station can be configured to connect with the server for printing capabilities. These printing capabilities include granting or restricting rights to any one of the printers that are recognized by the print server.
What this arrangement does is ensures that there is always a printer available to any member of the office. If one printer is temporarily out of service, it is a simple task to send the print job to a different printer on the network. Having a print server that allows access to multiple printers saves a lot of time and money.
What are they?
Proxy server is a server that is usually used on a private network that will allow access to external network resources. In typical network configurations, the computers on a company network care separated from the internet by a firewall (for security reasons). The computers on the network are not able to access the internet directly to browse for web pages, so therefore the browser must be configured to use a proxy server. The proxy server is allowed to access the internet to service requests for web pages from the internet. All common browsers can support this configuration, usually titled, “Use a Proxy Server”.
How they do they Work?
Proxies are store-and-forward caches. You can configure your web browser to use a proxy; this will make it so that it never connects to the URL. It is cool because instead it will always connect to the proxy server, and asks to get the URL for you. Proxies can and sometimes used for some sort of firewall, because it isolates you from connecting to the Internet.
A Proxy server receives a request for an Internet Service from a user. Then if it passes filtering requirements, the proxy server, assuming it is also a cache server, looks in its local cache of previously downloaded Web pages. If it finds the page, it returns it to the user without needing to forward the request to the Internet. But if the page is not in the cache, then the proxy server, acting as a client on behalf of the user, uses one of its own IP addresses to request the page from the server out on the Internet. When the page is returned, it then relates it to the original request and forwards in on to the user. The proxy is invisible to the user; any of the Internet requests and returned responses appears to be directly with the addresses Internet server.
What are their advantages?
A proxy server’s cache can serve all users. Also to improve user response time, if one or more internet sites are frequently requested then they are likely to be in the proxy’s cache. There are also different types of proxy servers with different features, some are anonymous proxies so that it can hide your real IP address and some are used to filter sites, for example sites that have things that may be unsuitable for people to view. With a proxy server you are not completely anonymous because when you connect to a web site, your true IP address will not be shown, but the proxy servers IP will and therefore the proxy server will have logs of IP’s that used the proxy server and the times.
What are some possible uses?
Some possible uses can be if you have a child and you want to restrict sites that they are viewing, you can do that with the right type of proxy because not all of them filter sites. It is also used for protection, so if a hacker hacks you, your IP address will be hidden and they can’t get info about you when using it. They will only be able to get the servers IP. Also they are not hard to set up, there is no hardware or software needed, all you have to do is configure your browser to connect through it. ______________________________________________________________________________
File Server
What are they?
A file server is a computer attached to a network that has the primary purpose of providing a location for a shared disk access. The file server is a shared storage of computer files. It contains documents, sound files, photographs, movies, images, databases and more. These certain files can be accessed be the workstations that are attached to the computer network. The file server does not usually perform any calculations, and does not run any programs on behalf of the clients. It is basically designed to enable the rapid storage and retrieval of data where the heavy computation is provided by the workstations.
How they do they Work?
File servers can either be dedicated or non-dedicated. Dedicated servers are basically designed specifically used for a file server, with workstations attached for reading and writing files and databases. File servers can also be categorizes by the method of access. For example Internet file servers are frequently accessed by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or by HTTP.
What are their advantages?
File servers are good to use because they will save space on each individual client computer. They help with storage space, access speed, recoverability, ease of administration, security, and budget. File servers basically offer some form of system security to limit access to files to specific users or groups.
What are some possible uses?
File servers are sometimes used in offices, schools, businesses, and sometimes even houses.
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Print Server
What are they?
A print server is basically a device that allows computer workstations to interact with one or more printers that are shared on the network. They are mainly used in offices but can also be used for personal use. In an office, a printer service would be used to connect all the office computers to one printer. The print server can either be in the form of a small server that acts with the main office servers to allow printing capability. In many situations, one of the computers in the network group is designated as the print server. The software needed to allow for this function is loaded onto the hard drive of the computer that will be used as the print server.
Once the hardware is loaded and installed, the software can be configured to recognize all the printers in the office, as well as all the workstations that are allowed access to server functions. Once the credentials are established on the print server, each work station can be configured to connect with the server for printing capabilities. These printing capabilities include granting or restricting rights to any one of the printers that are recognized by the print server.
What this arrangement does is ensures that there is always a printer available to any member of the office. If one printer is temporarily out of service, it is a simple task to send the print job to a different printer on the network. Having a print server that allows access to multiple printers saves a lot of time and money.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot by Sierra Wireless
Sooner or later internet will be everywhere we walk. No matter where you go there will be internet. But it used to be having Ethernet cables all up and down your house. Sprints new Overdrive gives you internet with a stupendous speed that can be compared to the internet from a cable modem as long as you are in the right city. Some of the U.S. carriers offer reasonably fast #G wireless data. The wireless speeds happen to be about one megabit per second. But surprisingly Sprint is the first American carrier that has came out with a faster 4G connection which will be faster. It is available in about 29 cities which include Austin, Texas where it was being tried out at the SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Festival. It is very similar to the Verizon MiFi which was reviewed last year. The Sprint Overdrive takes a wireless connection where ever you go and is used to create a local Wi-Fi hotspot that you are able to connect your device you. The Sprint Overdrive works similar to a regular Wi-Fi router, with the standard options like security. But with the overdrive you can unplug it and carry it outside and it works just like it did inside. One of the downfalls of the Overdrive is that it can only support up to five devices at a time. So for example that is enough for your laptop, cellphone, iPad, portable gaming device and your digital camera. While they tested the device, they realized that when the Overdrive is in default settings, they were able to squeeze out about three hours of battery life. This was while the device was engaged in typical internet usage (browsing, e-mailing, uploading a video file, streaming music). Usually that would be enough for a morning telecommuting session from a park or coffee shop. It would have been a great add on to have a optional battery pack so you can stay online for longer but when the battery is low or dead you are going to have to retreat to a power outlet. I bet you are wondering how fast the Sprint 4G network is! Well on a Wi-Fi-connected Motorola Droid it was average to be about 1.53 Mbps downstream. On the laptop the connection was 3.16 Mbps downstream and 0.59 Mbps upstream. This is not bad compared to the American broadband speed was 3.9 Mbps in Q3 of 2009. Even Akamai’s most recent report, they believe the Overdrive lives up to its promise of delivering mobile broadband. The Overdrive also has a plausible cellphone alternative, only if you want to take a step on voice over Internet Protocol, but only if you are also able to deal with the short battery life. It is a very small device, in fact small enough to fit in your back pocket or in your bag. It is not very cheap, but it is definitely less expensive than the iPhones 3GS service. You can also add extras. There is a microSD slot for adding up to 16 GB of shared network Storage. Also there is a optional Wi-Fi range reducer to conserve battery life. There is also a browser-based dashboard with GPS with Google Maps, MapQuest, Microsoft Bing or Yahoo. I can’t wait until this is available in more cites. This is something I would love to have.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
New Ways of Learning
A new and improved way of learning has come to take place the old and boring traditional learning. IPods are not just for music and games anymore. Educational applications have been making students go haywire. I always wondered when a new type of learning was going to come in par. I was always bored with the old type of learning and traditional classes. Spicing it up with iPod learning applications is a great idea. The students at Somerset Elementary School in Minnesota have become very interested in Apple touch-screen media and handheld computers. IPods are starting to get more popular in U.S. schools for learning. For kids tapping, scrolling and swiping are more fun on a device rather than activities for math and spelling that are “boring”. Students show to be more engaged in learning suddenly when it is not paper and pencil. At the school the teacher passes around a laptop to have students download educational apps. The teacher one or more times during the week passes out the charged iPods and the students are excited because to them it is like playtime. Some people argue and are not convinced that students will not have a lasting educational value. Alex Silverman, a man who has thought high school students, is now an app developer has created a new app called eClicker. It allows the teachers and students to communicate with each other through the classrooms Wi-Fi network. This may also create a more interaction through class participation. The app only cost $25 for the teacher and its free for the students. "His students have a variety of learning disabilities that often cannot be overcome with regular teaching methods. But something as simple as a flash-card slide show on touch-screen iPods, with finger swipes for moving from one digital photo to the next, tends to electrify the kids." Suddenly a class of boring students turns into an interested and eager class to learn.
I am glad a new way of learning has finally come. I am already getting some of this new learning in my school now. A program called ISP. I hope we can integrate iPods in our class to.
I am glad a new way of learning has finally come. I am already getting some of this new learning in my school now. A program called ISP. I hope we can integrate iPods in our class to.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Gonna Spread my Wings, Sweet 16
So I was bored and I decided to look through my computer for some pictures to blog about and I ran into one of my favorite pictures. It was a picture that was took by my brother but edited by me. It was the day before my sweet 16. I wanted to have a little photo shoot in my dress and I wanted to be able to blow it up really big and have my friends that come into my party sign it. It was a success. That was a really fun night and I am glad I was able to spend it with all of my friends and family I love so much. This is the picture above.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
I really enjoy photography. It seems like a very relaxing job depending on what side you take on. Other than taking the pictures I really enjoy the editing part. I feel as though i am very good at Photoshop and when I edit photos for the most part I am happy with the outcome. I also enjoy graphic design, which is a slight branch off of photography. Ever since my parents business, I have only became more interested is photography and editing photos. There is a lot to just pressing a button!
Above is a picture i took! ( Without editing)
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